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God of War Laufey stars the recently deceased Faye (short for Laufey) instead of her husband Kratos, but the next entry in the deity-smashing epic looks to be no less violent, with exhilarating, crunchy combat still at the fore. As you'd expect from Kratos' partner and Atreus' mother, Faye is more than capable of packing a punch – after all, she is the Golden Hand of the Jötnar, and proved more than a match for Thor.
In fact, Faye's combat chops are in some ways more God of War than modern Kratos himself, with her fast and fluid combat style bridging the gap between the original PS2 trilogy and the softly rebooted, closer-to-the-shoulder scraps in 2018's God of War and God of War Ragnarok. Just as Kratos learnt some fighting tricks from Faye (his Leviathan Axe that's become synonymous with the Norse pantheon saga was originally Faye's), she appears to have learnt some from him too. With plenty of nods to the Greek era in how Faye plays, this is exactly how I wanted the series to evolve after two games worth of Kratos' extra meaty wallops.
Airing grievances
Throughout God of War's Norse saga, Kratos can perform some devastating attacks, but so far it's been more grounded than his Greek-set adventures. Perhaps in the years that passed, Kratos got creaky knees. Cue meeting Faye, and him looking up at her Willem DaFoe-style as she air juggles enemies just like he used to back in the day.
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Faye's quick attacks and high mobility is a deliberate nod to the Greek era of God of War according to the developers, and it's great to see that legacy respected as being just as important to the series' DNA as the more recent ones. So far we've seen her wield a sword wrapped with a talking ribbon, with which she's able to dextrously slash and spin around hands-free using magic. But, she can also perform a launcher attack to lift enemies into the air, following them up to continue the combo unbroken before slamming them down into the ground again.
It's a bit Devil May Cry 5, which, if you recall, is the style of character action that God of War used to be in closer conversation with – God of War Laufey is reaching back to pull classic God of War concepts forward into the modern day. The 20 minutes of gameplay we've seen of Laufey in action appears to be relatively early, so I'm hoping to see more extensive aerial combos in the full thing, perhaps with different weapons. After all, God of War Ragnarok had some really neat arsenal-swapping combos. Faye having similar capabilities with a more mobile moveset really has me itching to try out combos for myself, and given "building and maintaining momentum" is the crux of her combat style according to Grace Orlady, Santa Monica Studio's comms director, it feels like I'm in for a real treat.
But, Faye isn't only about modernizing classic combat techniques. Thanks to her soul magic, she's got some tricks of her own, with her powers reactivating and possibly even evolving once she begins to shake off the whole being dead thing (God of War Laufey takes place in Everwhen, a cross-culture afterlife of the gods). If you think controlling enemy bodies in a battlefield dense with enemies is peak character action, how about also comboing their spirits too?
By using her Golden Hand technique, she can palm strike an enemy so hard their soul literally detaches from their body, their physical form floating in the air while she continues her chain of attacks on the remaining ethereal form. Just like how air combos can detach foes from groups and then become projectiles as they're slammed back down, so can souls, with Faye displaying one finisher move where she punts the remains of an enemy soul into a group where it explodes with a golden splash, sending a whole squadron flying.
Faye's combat is flashy, super fast, and combat against screens filled with enemies, rather than looking irritating, instead promises to become a spectacle as you use special abilities to send them flying. While the previous two God of War games were certainly impressive, I'm already getting the sense that evolving in this way is God of War Laufey really leaning into what being a PS5 exclusive makes possible.
Sure, I love my slow-paced cinematic games as much as the next PlayStation enjoyer, and I'm sure I'll be hooked on Faye's storyline. But, as someone who's always up for another run through a stylish action game for the pure joy of keeping combos going, I'm pleasantly surprised to see that spirit still strong in God of War's next proper entry, and what's sure to be one of the biggest upcoming PS5 games. I'm soul-d.
Check out the best games like God of War for more adventures while we await a release date for God of War Laufey!
